The Six Nations organisers have resisted the urge to get rid of the tournament’s rest weekend in the 2018 and 2019 fixture lists, which have been announced on Tuesday.

The opening weekend of the 2018 Championship will feature Wales v Scotland in Cardiff, France v Ireland in Paris and Italy v England in Rome. The final weekend will mean a match between England and Ireland on St Patrick’s Day, though this one will be in Twickenham rather than in Dublin the day after as the 2017 fixture was.